Monday, May 16, 2011

Day 1: In Beijing

We have arrived in China!

The ride was a little bumpy towards the end, but the authentic Chinese dinner compensated for that. We are now settled at the Penta Hotel in Beijing, where we'll be staying for five more days. Most of us have been practicing our Chinese through Prof Sobelman and our tour guide, Li Xu Man.

After a ~16-hour flight, we have finally arrived in China!

The ride was a little bumpy towards the end, but the authentic Chinese dinner compensated for that. We are now settled at the Penta Hotel in Beijing, where we'll be staying for five more days. Most of us have been practicing our Chinese through Prof Sobelman and our tour guide, Li Xu Man.

600-year old city wall of Beijing built in the Ming Dynasty.

After our experience with the rush hour in Beijing, we headed to a restaurant and for the first time ate authentic Chinese dishes (no, they didn't have fortune cookies). Here are some of the guys practicing their mad chopsticks skills.

Sweet and sour fish

Watch out for our next blog for more authentic Chinese food and culture. Also, we will be visiting Tsinghua University (the MIT of China) one of the top universities in China tomorrow.